


A Fool's Path to Love

by TheQueen



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Falling In Love, Getting Together, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 10:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14235411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueen/pseuds/TheQueen
Summary: Lance and Keith are roommates. Keith gets a crush. Lance has honestly never considered it.A commission





	A Fool's Path to Love

“A date?” Lance says blankly. He sags against his chair as Keith nods.

“Yeah, I thought we could go out and get lunch and maybe....”

"You mean like a romantic date?" Lance looks down at his coffee as if it was it's fault for making the world stop making sense.

"Yeah," and Keith’s face has gone from pink to red. "I thought it would be nice?"

"Nice?" Lance has to stop repeating what Keith says. It isn’t helping. He scrambles for something to say or do, wraps his hands around one of the rubix cubes Hunk had left on the counter last weekend and nearly tips his coffee into his lap to make his brain refocus.

"I like you," Keith shifts nervously from foot to foot, which is something Lance has never seen him do. He’s… Keith is confident. It’s a fact. The first thing Lance had noticed about the guy was his aura: confident and self assured.  A rock in a storm.

"I like being here… with you and I think… we could be happy together, so I am asking you on a date." Keith shuts his mouth and looks at Lance expectantly.

Lance would be an idiot not to see the potential. Keith is a great guy. Nice. Funny when he wants to be and with enough spine to keep Lance from walking all over him (which had been problems with boyfriend 3 through girlfriend 7). But... Keith had put himself out there and Lance owed it to their friendship and their living situation to be direct. He respected the guy too much to string him along. Because while Keith is a lovely, wonderful guy, he just isn’t Lance’s type.   
  
"I'm flattered - " he starts, and Keith’s smile turns fragile.   
  
"It's okay."   
  
"Hey, it’s… it’s alright? Living together and all. Plus I'm really hot," a ghost of a smile on Keith’s face, so Lance babbles on, "No big deal. It'll pass. You'll get over it."   
  
"I don't think so," Keith is pink around the ears. "I…" he looks away. "I don't think so."   
  
"Sure it will. People get crushes on me all the time. I'm just that awesome." He gives his best smirk, but Keith isn’t looking at him.   
  
"All right," Keith nods firmly. "We're, uh - we're okay?"   
  
"We're good."   
  
"I'm just...I'm going to..." he gestures behind him to the living room and the hallway where their bedrooms sit  and Lance bounces to his feet and grabs Keith’s hand before he can make a break for it.   
  
"Keith?"   
  
"Yeah?" Keith looks up, gray eyes wide.   
  
"Friends, right?" He holds his breath. He really doesn’t want to lose Keith’s friendship over a little crush.   
  
"Of course," Keith smiles and turns his hand to squeeze Lance’s before pulling away and slipping out through the door.

.

The next day when Keith hands him his cup of coffee just the way he likes it, Lance is too relieved that their friendship seems to still be intact to notice the way Keith’s eyes are bloodshot from crying.

.

It takes exactly three days for Lance to realize he’s fucked up.

Actually it’s Pidge who tells him he’s fucked up. “Idiot.”

“He’s not my type!” Lance cries for the third time as they walk back from Starbucks, arms laden with their spoils of post-rush-hour-Starbucks war.

“Your type?” Pidge rolls her eyes. “Like your type has ever done you any favors. When’s the last time you’ve gone on a good date?”

“Listen!” Lance cries, smile teasing at the edge of his lips as Pidge nudges him hard in the side. “Listen! My sex life is great, Pidgeon.”

“Daaaaaaate,” she stresses, skipping ahead to toss her empty cup in the nearest trash before turning back to Lance. “Date, asshole! Not a one-night stand you shame walk home to. An honest to god date with someone who is more than pretty.”

Lance pouts. They both know how long it’s been.

For a moment they stand in silence as they wait for the light change to walk. “So…” Lance rocks back and forth, staring at the passing cars. The idea slowly taking root “You think we’d be good together?”

“Idiot.”

.

That night Lance watches. 

He watches the way Keith sets his favorite blue plate on the table next to the Keith’s favorite red one. He watches as they move seamlessly through their small apartment, gathering the supplies for dinner. Watches as they work with practiced ease until the meal is done. He notes, as if just an observer, as Keith leaves him breathless from laughter, a small smug smile pulling at the edge of Keith’s lips. 

He watches the way they clean up. The routine of who has to do what and the practiced banter as they wash and dry dishes carries them through as if it wasn’t a chore. Realizes that after dinner, no matter how tired or how much work they have to do, Lance and Keith will always find themselves in front of the laptop to watch the latest episode of their current obsession, sitting too close and laughing too loud. Realizes that Lance doesn’t want this to change. 

That night Lance goes to bed and thinks.

.

The next morning, Lance slips out the door before Keith wakes. A warm cup of tea waiting by the stove. 

He needs to think.

.

Hunk tells him he’s being an idiot. 

“We would work wouldn’t we,” Lance sighs as his oldest and bestest friend finishes frying their eggs. Shay sits, still half asleep, next to him.

“I think if you’re asking that then you already know,” Shay points out.

Hunk nods as he transfers the eggs to plates. “You two,” he says, “do make an odd amount of sense.”

Lance groans, stretching out across the table. “I don’t want to ruin what we have. I like what we have.”

“It could be better though,” Hunk adds. “Imagine how weird it would get if one of you actually started dating.” He wrinkles his nose at the thought as if smelling something disgusting. “God that would be weird.” 

Lance shakes his head, “I don’t want to date the guy because it’s convenient. I just…”

“Do you have romantic feelings for him?” Shay asks. 

“I don’t know,” Lance shrugs and it feels like defeat. “I just… I never thought about it.” Them. Him and Keith. And maybe sex...

“So think about it,” Hunk says, pushing his plate of eggs towards him. “Eat then think. Then do what needs to be done. But don’t string the guy along.”

“Honestly the last thing I want to do,” Lance reassures, carefully breaking the yolk. “I do care about him.”

“That’s a start,” Shay pats his shoulder reassuringly. 

.

So Lance watches. 

He stares at the way Keith commands a room. Notices the way the light illuminates his profile in the morning, the elegant slope of his nose and the strength of his shoulders. Stops and stares at the way Keith’s hand moves across a page when he’s deep in thought, scribbling ideas in a notepad Lance gave him when they first moved in together. 

Lance had always had a type. Tall with sharp jawlines and strong arms. The sort of people whose muscles had muscles. The sort of people who could throw him around if they wanted to.

Keith… Keith is pretty. Keith is long lines and delicate wrists capable of carrying a surprising amount of weight. Keith is delicate in some lights and harsh in others. His jaw more pointed then the strong square of his last few… dates.

_ But…  _ He thinks about the way Keith smiles as they sit close on the sofa, watching another daytime drama. 

He thinks.

.

Six days later, Keith corners him outside the library, an unnervingly determined look on his face. For one terrifying moment, Lance thinks he might kiss him.

“I'm sorry,” he says, and Lance frowns, thrown. Is Keith apologising in advance for kissing him?

“Sorry for what?” Lance smiles and knows it looks weak.   
  
Keith groans, "I should never have told you about my feelings. Now it's awkward.” Okay, there isn’t going to be any kissing. Lance realizes with growing dread he’s almost… disappointed Keith didn’t kiss him.   
  
“What are you talking about? It's not awkward,” Lance tries.   
  
Keith shakes his head. “It is, though. You keep giving me these suspicious looks.”   
  
“I do not,” Lance flushes, glancing around and wondering what they must look like to the people walking by. Lovers dispute, perhaps? Or friends? What did people assume when they learned Lance and Keith, two single men of college age, were living together?   
  
Keith continues, determined as Lance starts to fidget, playing with the ends of his backpack straps. “You do. And I should never have told you I was in love with you, I know.”   
  
“In love?” Lance honest to god squeaks. “I mean, no! I wasn't - I just - “ he bites his tongue and looks away. “What do you want for dinner?” he asks, desperate as his cheeks burned.

Keith sighs, pitying him. “How about stew?”

Lance tries not to feel too guilty.

.

It’s wrong. It all feels wrong.

Lance watches as Keith silently cleans the pot before handing it to Lance to dry. He’s upset, the lines on his forehead prominent from the stress as he focuses on invisible stains. Lance standing next to him with a towel ready like an idiot. 

"Really, it's their fault," Lance finally says, breaking the awkward silence that had followed them all through dinner until now.   
  
"What?"   
  
"Keith," he begins and then freezes, words loss. What could he say?  _ Sorry I actually maybe sort of like you? Sorry Hunk and Pidge convinced me maybe we’d be kind of perfect together but I never thought about it because I’m an idiot? _ Lost, he speaks without thinking. “Could you take off your shirt?”   
  
Keith’s stares at him for a moment, judging before obediently peeling the far too tight tank top. Lance stares, shamelessly, at the width of his shoulders, the strength in his arms, and then down his chest where the beginnings of honest to god abs lay.  _ Not my type, _ Lance’s stupid ass.

Pidge was right. He’s an idiot.   
  
Tearing his eyes away from that chest he looks back up at Keith. “Um… so you know that date?" He smiled, sheepish.

Keith stares at him, bewildered and then looks down at his chest. “Is this just a physical thing?” Keith motions to his chest. "Because Lance… I don’t want to be someone you see once or twice a month.”

“I know,” Lance says and takes a deep breath. “I… I knew we’d work well together, okay? Like I never really thought about us dating but I mean we’re great together here… like this,” he gestures to the space between them. “But I didn’t think there’d be a physical thing. And I didn’t want to string you along…”   
  
"But now you want to…” Keith looks at him with far too much hope and Lance feels like the world’s biggest idiot.    
  
“I thought about it,” Lance shrugs. “I thought about us. I want to see what we can do,” Lance isn’t ready to commit. Not yet… but he never claimed to be as confident as Keith. 

But for now it’s enough. Keith sets the pot he’d been holding down and reaches out to take Lance’s hand and Lance lets him because he… he likes the idea and he’s brave enough to admit he likes the idea of more.   
  
“This could be a date,” Keith smiles confidentially.   
  
Lance glances around at their semi-messy apartment and the remnants of a home cooked meal still needing to be cleared away. “It could be…”   
  
“And if this were a date,” Keith leans closer, pulling Lance slower to his warm (naked!) chest. Lance’s cheeks flush. “That means I could kiss you right?”   
  
“I… I wouldn’t mind this being a date.” He put his hands on Keith’s bare shoulders and leans in for their first kiss of many.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! As always you can check out my tumblr for more writing:  
> thequeen117.tumblr.com


End file.
